MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2017: The Tiree Songbook

Congratulations to The Tiree Songbook who have been nominated in Community Project of the Year sponsored by Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust in the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2017. Vote now!

We asked Donald Iain Brown of The Tiree Songbook the following questions.

Tell us about yourself
The Tiree Songbook is a perfect example of a community project, connecting a Gaelic island and global diaspora community with its precious song heritage, connecting its own unique and highly regarded professional and community musicians and singers with other truly great Scottish traditional musicians and singers, and putting a small island with a big musical heart on stage, at the core of its own home turf and on the big stage for an audience around the world.

It was instigated by The Tiree Association, unique amongst the ‘Glasgow’ territorial associations in its centre being the island as much as the city, in order to represent Tirisdich at home, on the mainland and worldwide; and by A’ Bhuain, Tiree’s Homecoming week which welcomed ‘clann an eòrna’ – the descendants of Tiree, home to the island from as far afield as Canada and Australia. The project was funded by the Association and by the island’s own community windfall fund, and it was steered by Tirisdich – truly a project that represents the true strengths of the island of Tiree.

TSB brought together singers from the island with guest singers rarely heard live on Tiree and a house band made up of Tirisdich by birth and descent joined by the very finest ambassadors of trad music from other airts: Bernard Smith Snr, Iain Brown, Murdina MacLean, Ishbel Campbell and Donald-Iain Brown were joined by James Graham and Linda MacLeod, and were backed by Mary Ann Kennedy, Euan Burton, Marie Fielding, Calum MacCrimmon, Anna Massie and Ian Smith – a powerhouse line-up in anyone’s books!

The brief was to celebrate in the first instance ‘Na Bàird Thirisdeach’ – the definitive 20thC collection of songs from Tiree, the ‘blue book bible’ for Tiree singers. But the Songbook also sought to bring things up to date, to include some of today’s great songwriters, including Flora and Angus MacPhail, and Neil Brownlie. It recognised the great piping tradition of a tiny island by bringing together the piping families on the island to play legendary classic tunes and brilliant new compositions written by and about islanders: John C. and Alastair Campbell, Gordon and Kyle Rowan, and Finlay and Anne Johnston became the Cachaileith to Corrairigh Pipers, and they and the Songbook House Band showcased tunes by the likes of Peter MacFarquhar, P.M. John MacDonald, Dr. John Holliday, Mary Ann Kennedy and Norman MacDonald. And Gordon Connell’s great legacy – the mighty bands with their roots in the accordion and dance traditions – were represented in tunes by Martin and Daniel Gillespie, Angus MacPhail, Ian Smith and others, and by the appearance of Angus from Skipinnish, Daniel from Skerryvore and Campbell Brown from Gunna Sound on the night of The Tiree Songbook at Celtic Connections 2017 to pay tribute in music to Bernie Smith as he sang his heart out, as always, in ‘Lag nan Cruachan’.

And to cap it all, a mighty double live and studio album of The Tiree Songbook, featuring all of these songs and music will be released by the Tiree Association at this year’s Annual Gathering in Glasgow in November. What an amazing collaboration, celebrating all that is good about this island and its heritage.

Why are you involved in Scottish music?
This is maybe not such a relevant question for an organisation, but the following – from Angus MacPhail of Skipinnish – sums up in this live review of the Celtic Connections gig why The Tiree Songbook was such a special thing:

The Power of Song

The double-edged sword of being born into an ethnic group whose future existence hangs in the balance gives emotional pendulum swings peculiar to that position. Along with the dark moments of anger, frustration, guilt, sadness, bitterness and helplessness, are equally affecting flashes of pride, connection, hope, harmony and a powerful sense of privilege in belonging to something rich and unique. Last Sunday night’s concert in the Strathclyde Suite of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall provided the foundation for a pronounced swing of the pendulum to the positive end of that vast scale.

“Tiree Song Book” was the title of this Celtic Connections Concert, which was supported by the Tiree Association and directed by Mary Ann Kennedy. First performed in May last year at the Tiree Homecoming, it featured songs and tunes linked to Tiree and performed by singers and musicians from the Island as well as more widely known artists from across the country.

The responsive joy and goodwill emanating from the crowd brought the room alive and the comments afterwards were those of an audience awed by the depth of musical tradition.

The concert was a well-crafted showcase of the island’s rich Bardic culture brought together seamlessly with contemporary tunes and songs.

There were many figures of the past whose presence could be felt and the strength of the pride we know they would feel was as much part of the atmosphere as the cheering and clapping of the audience.

Mary Ann Kennedy’s father Alasdair had his hand on her shoulder by the piano. As John Campbell led the pipers, his father Lachie Beag was tuning his drones. As communications master and author Alasdair Campbell sounded his pipes, his brother Donald, was giving him a mouthful for a late strike in. Murdina MacLean’s clear, beautiful voice lit the hearts of her parents Rose and Murdoch MacDonald. As Donald Iain Brown introduced the performers his parents, Annie and Lachie, were beaming at having three of their sons on the stage. As Gordon Rowan set the pipe chanters, his uncle Kenny MacDonald was telling him to watch the high Gs. As Anne and Finlay Johnstone played Am Falbh Thu Leam, their father and grandfather respectively, Alasdair Sinclair, was singing along with a wide grin and a glint in his eye. As Daniel from Skerryvore took to the stage his father Danny Gillespie gave his shoulder a strong and warm squeeze. And during the highlight of the night for myself and for many, when Bernard Smith, backed on accordion by his son Ian, sang Lag Nan Cruachan, I could feel my father, Eachann Mòr, standing beside me filled with pride listening to Bernie singing that song which he had sung for him so many times before.

As he always did, Bernie nailed it, and all the performers and the entire audience – in imagination, in spirit and in person – filled the hall with as collectively positive an energy as I have ever felt in one room.

There is power in song.

Any particular career highlights?
The project was performed originally at A' Bhuain in Tiree in May 2016, and reprised at the Glasgow Royal Concert Halls for Celtic Connections in January 2017. The album was recorded on Tiree at Musical Director, Mary Ann Kennedy's family home in Kilmoluag (dubbed the Crois Geur Recording Studios for the duration); at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow; at Watercolour Studios in Ardgour and live from the two original concerts in Glasgow and Tiree.

The project as a whole was dedicated to Bernie Smith Snr., much-loved singer and father of co-producer of the Songbook, Ian Smith (Trail West). Iain said:
"Included on the album is my Dad’s final public performance at Celtic Connections this year, recorded just a few months before he passed away. Alongside the house band, Dad was joined that night by Angus MacPhail, Daniel Gillespie and Campbell Brown and this track stands as a fantastic legacy of a very well-known and much-loved man. I know for sure that he would be very proud that this track is included and that the album has been dedicated to his memory."

What are your plans for the future?
A double album will be released on November 18th in Glasgow at the Tiree Gathering weekend in the city.

The Songbook will make a return to Tiree for the island's Music Festival in 2018, and plans are underway to complete the circle started with the A' Bhuain homecoming week, but visiting Canada where there are significant communities of Tiree descendants still in contact with their island roots, and where in Nova Scotia, one of the island's greatest 19thC poets, John MacLean (Bàrd Thighearna Cholla) is remembered and revered as 'The Bard MacLean', a central part of the emigrant community to that part of the New World.

If you would like to come along to the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards in Paisley’s Lagoon Centre call 0300 300 1210 or to buy online visit www.paisley2021.co.uk/events/the-mg-alba-scots-trad-music-awards. Tickets can also be purchased via Paisley Arts Centre. Bands performing on Saturday 2nd December include Elephant Sessions, The Shee Big Band, Siobhan Miller, Tidelines, Paisley Fèis, Snuffbox, The Seamus O’Sullivan Experience, Lori Watson, Jenna Reid and Harris Playfair, Songs of Bàrd Phàislig (featuring Gillebrìde MacIlleMhaoil, Sìneag MacIntyre, Màiri NicAonghais, Seonaidh MacIntyre, Ewan MacPherson, Mhairi Hall, Màiri Nic a Mhaoilein and more to be announced. There will also be a late night ceilidh after the Awards till 1am.